Sanity.

There are mental models and then there are the things they describe. It is a mistaken too often made in literate civilizations, to mistake the model for the thing it describes. It is even more of a mistake, when they attempt to correct the error by asserting nihilism by suggesting we should abandon all mental models. Collective thought and action goes right out the door and the civilization collapses.

We need to be reminded that "cave" is not the thing it describes. We don't need to throw "cave" out because it is not the thing in itself.

TBH I've seriously begun to wonder about the assumed value 'civilization' actually has. Personally, I could take it or leave it, even when it was still a going concern. It doesn't have a particularly good track record, once you start to investigate. Shortly after achieving its goal, which is really only safety and comfort, it starts eating itself from within.

...if you use enough drugs, yes, it can appear to you as if you can do that. But reality isn't something humans can bend. The human bends itself, and calls that reality.

What is the entire project of civilization, if not the bending and shaping of reality to human Will? Certainly, it takes a person of a truly extraordinary ability, vision and personal strength to accomplish, but it can be accomplished. The heroic path is just very lonely, and littered with the bleached bones of the unworthy.